December 9, 2023 • 38 mins
In this empowering episode, we sit down with Maddi, an extraordinary individual whose journey has been defined by resilience and determination.
Graduating from Georgetown University with a passion for Spanish and Justice and Peace Studies, Maddi's life took an unexpected turn when a hemorrhagic stroke left her paralyzed on her left side. Amidst her recovery, she discovered a new passion for fashion, channeling her love for the arts into writing her first book, "Fashion Fwd: How Today's Culture Shapes Tomorrow's Fashion," published in September 2018.
But Maddi's story doesn't end there. Driven by her own experience with stroke recovery, she embarked on a new book project aimed at inspiring survivors of trauma. Through her words and experiences, she aims to empower others to seize control of their lives and transform obstacles into incredible opportunities.
Join us as Maddi shares her journey of resilience, creativity, and empowerment, proving that challenges can be the catalyst for remarkable transformation and personal growth.
- Follow Maddi on Instagram
- Read Maddi’s Books!
- Visit Maddi’s Website
- Book an EmBRACE It Workshop
- Looking for more great tips, hacks, and blog posts? Visit: Trend-Able.com
- Find more on Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) and patient resources at: HNF-cure.org
- Follow us on IG! @embraceit_podcast | @trend.able | @cmtwegotthis
More Links from Maddi!
- Register your interest for my Fast Fwd stroke survivor summit to take place on April 19 in NYC:
- Book your spot to join my group trip to Bali (code MADDIBALI100 for $100 off):
- Sign up for my community page:
Please leave us a review and help others find us!
Hosted by Lainie Ishbia and Estela Lugo.
Embrace It is produced by Launchpad 516 Studios.
For sponsorships and media inquiries, drop an email to: embraceit@lp516.com
Subscribe to Embrace It with Lainie and Estela on Apple Podcasts and get notified of new episodes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/embrace-it-with-lainie-estela-smashing-disability-stigmas/id1468364898
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Welcome to the Embrace it series, where women
with all types of disabilitiescan be real, resourceful and
stylish.
With each episode, you'll walkor roll away with everyday tips,
life hacks and success storiesfrom community leaders and
influencers.
So take off your leg braces andstay a while with Lainey and
Estella.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hi, I'm Lainey and I have CMT.
I'm a neuro-muscular disorderaffecting approximately 2.6
million people worldwide.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
That's as many as MS.
We believe disabilities shouldnever get in the way of looking
or feeling good.
Both of us wear leg braces andhave learned through our own
personal journeys to embrace it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Brought to you by Launchpad 516 Studios.
Each episode is designed tochallenge your own stigmas and
beliefs around disability.
We want our listeners to getthe most value for their time
spent with us, so we interviewsome of the most empowering
disability badasses in the world.
Through storytelling, personalexperiences and tips, we're all
reminded of our own strengthsand endless potential.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
For more information and exclusive resources, check
out our websites attrend-ablecom and hnf-curorg,
and don't forget to hit thesubscribe button for future
episodes and special promos.
Hi everyone, welcome to anotherepisode of Embrace it.
(01:35):
Hi, estella.
Hey Lainey, happy Labor Day ohyes, I don't know when it's
going to air, but you know mybirthday was yesterday.
Happy birthday, thank you.
You know Estella wrote me abeautiful well, I should say an
AI robot wrote me the mostfabulous poem and it was so nice
(01:55):
.
I had a great birthday,although having a birthday on
Labor Day as a child was verytraumatizing, because it was
always the first day of school,like that time, and so my
friends didn't have enough timeto decorate my locker.
But everyone made up for it.
As adults I'm getting.
It was very nice.
It was an awesome birthday.
You poor thing, yeah, how didyou get that?
(02:17):
People always say their likeChristmas birthdays are big and
shit summer birthdays.
I say first day of school, noone pays attention to you.
But we're going to save that foranother day.
You guys, we have anotherfabulous guest.
I know we say it every singletime, but we really look far and
(02:37):
wide for fabulous guests, sothey really are Many of them
super fabulous.
So today is definitely noexception.
I want to introduce MaddieNebank to our podcast and I'm
going to just give you a littlething about her.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
But hi, maddie first of all, hi, thank you so much
for having me on the podcast.
Hi we are so happy to have you.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
So a little bio.
Maddie Nebank graduated fromGeorgetown University in
Washington DC in 2017.
A few days after later, rightafter graduating- she went to
the hospital for a plannedsurgery to treat and this is
where my like our say it for me,an AVM which is a Arto Arteo
(03:26):
Arteovenous Maleformation Yep,okay, we'll talk about that in a
few minutes and basically anuntreated AVM for sure can
result in a serious stroke, apre-surgery procedure.
Though that AVM gave way andMaddie did, in fact, suffer to
stroke, and while going throughrecovery, maddie wrote books.
(03:46):
One of them was called FashionForward how Today's Culture
Shapes Tomorrow's Fashion.
But Maddie took that endeavorlevel as she embraced her
disability and she wrote hermost recent book, which is Fast
Forward, the Fully RecoveredMindset.
There's so many things we cansay about you.
You are doing everything from afashion person with their own
(04:08):
fashion business to working at amajor fashion brand, to having
I don't know.
You have a lot of followers onInstagram and a whole community
of people you help through yourown podcast.
Welcome to the show, maddie.
Welcome.
Welcome to the show, maddie.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Yeah, thank you again for having me and thank you for
the introduction.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We usually like to provide a little bit of a
background on you know, when wefeel whether you were born with
a disability or if it'ssomething you acquired later in
life, there's always lessons tobe learned through that journey.
Could you give us a little bitof an overview of what that
journey from being a you know, acollege graduate to entering
(04:49):
the disability community, andmaybe what were some of those
dark moments and how did youfind your way through those?
Speaker 5 (04:56):
Sure, yes, like you mentioned, estella, I was not
born into the disabilitycommunity.
It happened later in life, Iguess you could say the journey
technically started when I wasin second grade.
I started getting extremelysevere, debilitating migraines
that would last for a super longtime.
I tried every single migrainemedication under the sun.
(05:18):
None of them worked.
The only thing I could do isjust like lay down in a dark
room and like vomit repetitively, or like just hope that the
pain would eventually go away.
When I was 15, I suffered amigraine that lasted 24 days and
my neurologist was like this isnot normal, we need to get this
(05:39):
checked out.
So he ordered me an MRI andthat MRI is what revealed that I
had the arteriovenousmalformation, or the AVM, which
Lainey mentioned at thebeginning.
Once I found out that I had anAVM, which is something that
you're born with it's a tangleof blood vessels in your brain
that don't have capillaries.
(06:00):
So my understanding is that,like an abnormal tangle of blood
vessels where the blood flow isjust extremely unregulated and
not good, that with each year oflife was an increased chance of
this AVM bleeding, and if itdid bleed, there's a 10% chance
of death.
So I didn't like the idea ofhaving a ticking time bomb in my
(06:23):
brain, so that is what promptedme ultimately down the line to
get a scheduled brain surgeryafter I graduated college.
When I went in, though, I hadto have a preoperative procedure
, since my AVM was so big thatpreoperative caused a blood clot
in my brain which burst,causing me to have a massive
(06:44):
stroke in the hospital.
Thankfully, I was in thehospital, although my
neurosurgeon had just left forthe night.
He's called back in before hegoes into, excuse me to do my
emergency surgery.
He tells my parents that thesituation looks grim and he
doesn't know if I'm going tomake it up, but he'll try.
But like he doesn't know, likeit just did not look good, I was
(07:06):
losing.
I lost seven liters of blood,which is more blood than the
human body can even contain, soI had the brain surgery.
Obviously, I did live through it, so I did come out alive that
he was able to stop the bleedingand remove the AVM, but when I
did wake up, I was completelyparalyzed on the left side.
(07:30):
So everything from like my armand hand, and it's on my left
side and I'm left-handed, sothat was like so an adjustment
left arm, left hand, left leg,the whole left side of my body,
so, like left side of my face Icouldn't speak or swallow, like
I couldn't even sit up in awheelchair on my own, so I had
(07:51):
to learn how to do everythingfrom scratch, and it was like a
very, very long journey To getto where I am today.
But I've always kind of been thetype of person who, like I,
very quickly learned that Iwasn't just going to wake up and
get better.
You know, like I wasn't justgonna wake up one day and all of
(08:14):
a sudden, like my arm would beback my leg.
I Very quickly came tounderstand that, like, if I
wanted to see progress, the onlyway that was going to happen is
if I myself put in the work andI, like did the exercises in
rehab and if I, you know, kepttrying and no one would know for
sure, like how much better Iwas going to get.
(08:34):
But the only way to find outwas for me to do the exercise.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I'm assuming, maddie, that you like I mean here, you
are right Graduated from collegeand I can totally see, having
had a kid just graduate fromcollege last year myself, that
you were fitting in a surgerybefore you began your beginning
of your life, your first job.
You're like starting your lifelike my child moved away the
state and it's so exciting andyou were just fitting in the
(09:02):
surgery that you knew exactly.
You had no idea that, like yourwhole life would change forever
To that moment.
So I can't imagine that, evenwith your amazingly positive
attitude now, that you were sopositive Immediately, right,
like take us through rehab waslike a little bit, and how you
(09:23):
came to that Realization ofmindset over everything yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
So I definitely did go through like an initial stage
of Anger and like depression, Iguess you could say, because
initially, the first thoughtsthat would cross my mind after
waking up from having thistraumatic incident was why me,
like, what did I do to deservesomething like this to happen to
me?
Like I was, like you said, justgraduated from college.
(09:49):
I had a job lined up, I wasjust trying to squeeze in this
surgery and then I was going tomove up to Boston and like start
off my career and you know, doall the things that in my mind,
like a post grad Person, wouldbe doing.
Needless to say, like that paththat I had envisioned for
myself did not end up happening.
But I was very upset and Idefinitely felt like a sense of
(10:11):
FOMO, I guess you could say oflike, basically for the first,
like two years after having thisstroke, it was just me like
full-time rehab, like day in,day out, like I wasn't working.
I was doing cognitive, speech,physical, occupational therapy,
um, everything, and like itsucked.
Like I really Did not like it,especially the cognitive and the
(10:36):
speech therapy.
Like to me it just felt kind ofdumb.
I'm like why do I have to doexercises, to learn how to like
plan my day or like hold aconversation for longer than
five minutes, like all of thesethings just seemed like kind of
stupid to me.
But I mean, in retrospect,obviously it was not because I
couldn't do any of those things,so I had to relearn and rebuild
(10:58):
.
So I was like very Frustrated,I guess you could say, for a
long time, but when I was in theinpatient therapy I did More.
So come to realize, like,especially since I was working
or, you know, just interactingwith other patients who maybe
they didn't have a stroke, butyou know something happened that
caused them to be in ainpatient rehab facility too Um,
(11:21):
I realized that like I'm Verylucky.
I'm so lucky that one that Ilived through such a Like a
literal near-death experience,like the doctor didn't think I
was going to come out of italive and let alone like ever be
able to work again or walk or,you know, do like all the things
(11:43):
that I just previously takenfor granted.
You know I'm I'm like kind ofstubborn, I guess you could say,
and I'm very like when I getsomething into my mind, like I'm
just gonna focus really hard onthat and find a way to do it,
even if it doesn't look Like howit would have previously.
And I really really wanted myfirst goal like to be able to
walk without a cane.
(12:04):
Once I started walking with acane I was like I I hate this
thing, like I'm going to dowhatever I can to get rid of
this cane because I hate it somuch.
Um, so that became like thefirst goal and like I just Went
after that like fully, and thenafter that it was like okay, now
I need to be able to walkWithout the cane and then I need
to be able to like improve thequality of my gait.
(12:26):
And then it's like now I wantto be able to use my arm a
little bit more and I want to Doyou know, like do more
cognitively stimulatingactivities so that I can be able
to work Full-time.
Because that was another hugegoal of mine.
The biggest goals I had, likepretty much from the get-go, was
obviously Ambulatingindependently, so like being
(12:49):
able to walk on my own, live onmy own and do all of those
things.
I wanted to be able to travelagain.
Being able to travel was hugefor me because I love, I love to
travel and see new places.
So I really wanted to be ableto do that live on my own.
I wanted to be able to workagain, um, and yeah, just do the
different things of my lifethat I had been able to do
(13:09):
before.
What was that?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
moment when, maybe, you did re-enter the workforce.
What was that first job thatyou were able to get to that
goal?
Were there any fears aroundwhether or not you were going to
be able to you know perform atyour best?
Did you speak to your uhemployer about your disability,
(13:34):
or is it something that you youfelt like you had to hide at
that time?
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Yeah, so definitely, and like re-entering the
workforce or entering, I guess,because I'd never had a
full-time job before Enteringthe workforce for the first time
was a huge goal of mine and itwas quite challenging.
I did not move forward with thejob that I had been hired for,
like back when I was a collegestudent, um, just because it
involved to move up to Bostonand I wasn't ready for like
(13:58):
independent living at that time.
So I ended up getting a job asa reinsurance underwriter
through, um a family friend whowas hiring, um, he has like or
works at a like a Spanishinsurance company and I speak
Spanish and I thought like oh,like this would be great
Opportunity for me to like I canstay local, I can still live
(14:19):
with my parents and like go towork.
And you know, we'll just likesee what happens and I'm I'm big
into like trying things beforeI think I'm ready and like I
didn't know if I was ready Tostart working a full-time job.
But I thought, you know what,I'm just gonna do it because
I'll never like there's nevergoing to be the perfect time, at
(14:40):
least for me, like that Ithought I'm never, there's never
going to be like a perfectmoment where I'm like oh, yes,
okay, like I'm ready, or like Ifind the perfect job, like I
just wanted to try out afull-time work setting and like
see if I could do it, if I couldhandle it.
And it was tough at thebeginning and I did tell,
because it was a family friend,like obviously he knew about
(15:02):
like my disability and whathappened and everything, and was
very accommodating, like in thebeginning I couldn't work super
late, like I was.
You know, it would be like 4 pmand I'm like okay, like I'm
done for the day, like I need toGo home now, but over time I
was able to build up like thatlevel of endurance, I guess you
(15:23):
could say, and work longer hours.
And you know that firstexperience of my first job, it
was huge for me.
I I can't drive because of thestroke, because I lost a lot of
vision, so I I can't drive.
But I learned how to take thetrain by myself when I had that
(15:45):
first job.
So I would like walk to thetrain station, hop on the train,
go a stop and then like take ashuttle to the office.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
And that was huge for me in establishing my
independence so part of yourstory that was so motivating to
me was I.
You were talking, I think, on apodcast that I was listening to
, about you know, the fact thatthis new disability that you
acquired Changed your whole mind.
(16:14):
Like you use it as anopportunity, and people say that
often like, oh, every challengecan be an opportunity, and it
seems kind of cliche when itsaid, like what do you mean?
Like, really, you know what'sthe opportunity, but you were
like, hmm, this, what I studied,you know, in school, wasn't
what I really want to do.
And so talk about what you.
(16:35):
How do you use your newchallenges to get the
opportunity you have now?
How you know what is you'redoing.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Yeah, so I definitely yes.
So my favorite saying isobstacles are opportunities.
So really truly trying toembrace that and finding a way
to turn the obstacles that arein my life into an opportunity
and that was One of thoseobstacles, obviously was like
having the stroke and theopportunity to start working
this full-time job.
But I would say before that youmentioned about my books.
(17:06):
My first book I actually wrotebefore I even started working
and that was because I wasfeeling how do I say this?
I was feeling a bit left outBecause every working everyone's
moved to the city, started newjobs and like living Glamorous
life, like in my mind, and I'mjust like doing rehab every day,
(17:29):
and it sucked and it was notfun.
So I had a conversation with oneof my very favorite Georgetown
professors from when I was astudent and I was telling him
about what happened and how likeI wanted to do something
productive with my life, but Ireally didn't like Therapy day
in and day out, even thoughobviously that was important.
(17:49):
Like I wanted to do somethinglike more Important to me as
well, and he encouraged me totake the time that I'm not
working a full-time job toexplore something that I'm
really interested in and likesee no, start having
conversations with people abouta topic that I'm interested in
and just building my network andan industry that I'm passionate
about and see where that leaves.
(18:09):
I had settled upon fashionbecause I'd always really like
fashion and wanted to be in it,but I had no work experience in
the industry and I thought whowould ever hire me without like
having industry experience?
So I started just like casuallynetworking and like talking to
people through friends, so likeeveryone from like small
(18:32):
business owners to models toeditors, all like whoever in the
industry and just like talkingto them and hearing their
stories.
And I ended up writing all ofmy like key takeaways from those
conversations into my firstbook, fashion forward, which you
mentioned.
But the biggest part aboutwriting that book for me was it
(18:53):
was great because it got my footin the door like into an
industry that I wanted to be in,and I mean so I loved my job
and as a re-insuranceunderwriter I really, really did
.
But I kept coming back to likeoh, what, if, like, what, if I?
You know, I've always kind ofthought like maybe I wanted to
be in fashion and like maybe Ineeded to take the lead.
(19:15):
But the most interesting partabout me writing that first book
was I wrote a bit about like myrecovery in it as well, so like
it had the stories about peoplein the fashion industry.
But I also wove in littleanecdotes about like my stroke
recovery and how me goingthrough the process of
interviewing and writing thisbook and planning it out Like
(19:38):
all of that contributed to mycognitive recovery and people
really resonated with that.
People liked that aspect of itand were like interested to
learn more.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm super interested in this because I'm thinking,
okay, people who are listening,they're like I don't know what I
want to do, right, like I wantto do something, but like I
don't know for a second.
Here you took you know, your.
I mean, there's two parts to it.
One, you know, your interestwas in fashion, did you?
When you started to interviewthese people, did you do it like
, like what did you say to themI'm writing a book?
(20:09):
Because you didn't know youwanted to write a book at that
time, right?
Or did you know?
Speaker 5 (20:14):
I mean I had an idea that it would be going into a
book.
So I just, I mean I reached outlike to friends and family
members and asked like, oh, doyou know anyone?
Or I sent out cold emails, likeI was really just trying to get
in touch with whoever I could.
And then just I came up with acouple of a couple of questions
to ask and, you know, basicallyjust get their experience and
(20:39):
write a bit about, like, um,their experience in the industry
.
And then, after I'd talked to abunch of people, I looked at
all these conversations to thinklike, okay, what are the key
takeaways?
Like what are the common themesthat I'm seeing amongst all
these conversations?
And that was how I kind offigured out how to segment my
book.
Like I didn't go into it sayinglike, okay, these are going to
(21:00):
be like the five pillars that Idiscuss.
Like I just started talking topeople and I figured the rest
out after.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
This is George, fred and Jason, the co-leaders of
speak, interrupting to say thatwe hope you're enjoying this
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New episodes available everyweek on all of your favorite
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Speaker 4 (21:39):
Each speak talk is about six to 10 minutes in
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There are three key moments ineach speak talk the moment of
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We host pop up events all overthe world, and now we're
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Join us on the speak podcast as our speakers step
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We'll let you get back to theshow.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
You were listening to another great podcast from
launchpad 516 studios and what.
We obviously want people toread the books and we're going
to put the links in our shownotes, but maybe you could share
(22:33):
one or two of what those keypillars were from the book.
What did you learn aboutyourself as far as how you
wanted to be part of the fashionindustry?
Speaker 5 (22:43):
So, to be honest, when you ask that question, what
I think of is more like mysecond book, because that one I
feel like has bigger takeaways.
Like my first book is more liketakeaways around, like how the
fashion industry is changing andlike that's interesting To me.
The more, the more interestingand relevant one is probably my
second books.
Is it okay if I talk about that?
Yes, it's a perfect segue, sothat one.
(23:05):
My second book is about, like mystroke recovery and the lessons
that I learned for the first,like few years, specifically
around mindset, and I think thatI mean it's called fast forward
, the fully recovered mindset,because to me, what I learned
through my own recovery is thatour recovery from stroke, from
(23:26):
whatever, begins with ourmindset.
If I didn't have a right mindset, a positive, an optimistic
mindset, then I wasn't, I wasn'tgoing to recover really at all.
Like it began with how I talkto myself, the stories I tell
myself about, like how I want tobe and what I want to do and
(23:47):
the impact I want to have.
So for me, mindset iseverything and me being able to
turn my mindset around, to thinkpositively and view my
obstacles as opportunities wasreally the game changer for me
and it inspired me to createlike a community through social
(24:08):
media to share my story, notjust to share it but to help, to
help myself and to help otherpeople and empower others to do
the same and show like what ispossible, like, yes, we may have
traumatic, terrible thingshappen to us, like a stroke, but
we I mean we can't change thatthat happened, but what we can
(24:30):
change is our mindset and how wethink about what we're going to
do and how we're going to useour energies moving forward.
So to me that's been like,that's been very important.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
So you know we've talked on this podcast and
actually I wrote a whole blogabout thought distortions and
how important it is to you knowthat you can change your
thinking.
Right, it's all about your ownthinking that, that that
basically drives you.
So you have the ability tochange your thoughts, which then
can change how you feel, etcetera.
(25:01):
So obviously it's one thing tojust say you know what your
mindset is, everything You'vehad bad days.
I'm sure you've talked on yoursocials about your vision,
especially you know, the, theweakness, the, the hand weakness
, and but the peripheral visionloss is huge, right, it affects
(25:23):
your balance, it affectseverything you, you already wear
AFO after this.
You know, I'm sure you havedays, like everybody does, that
just suck, right, right.
Take us through a day that justsucks.
You wake up, everything's goingwrong, like it happens in life.
How does mindset take it Like?
How do you shift your mindset?
(25:44):
Are there any takeaways you cangive to our listeners?
Speaker 5 (25:47):
I'm going to do that, yeah, so one of one of my
biggest things that I'll do,because I do have a lot of
moments like that, to be honest,and I find that the more I slow
down and just like take abreather, it sounds like kind of
dumb, but like take a momentfor myself, maybe it's like a
few minute meditation, like Ilove to meditate, I feel like
(26:07):
that has helped me a lot in myrecovery and specifically around
like improving my mindset,because I kind of think like
like fake it till you make it ina sense, like I didn't believe
that I was, you know, a positiveperson, like I was very
distraught and yeah, distraught,I guess, is the word like when
(26:28):
this happened, but I startedjust like telling myself like no
, no, you can do this, likeyou're strong, all these things,
even though I didn't believe it.
And you know, over time, like Istarted to believe it and I'm
like I am, I am strong, I canhandle.
Like, if I can handle that, Ican handle having a stroke, I
can handle any challenge.
(26:49):
It's all just like.
It puts things into perspectivefor me.
But, to answer your question,like meditation I find helps
just slowing down.
I'm big on taking walks.
So I go for walks as often as Ican, and I find that those
always help to like lift my mood.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I love that and I love seeing you know just your
projection from being someonewho had to we learn all of these
life skills to being such apowerful spokesperson on behalf
of stroke survivors and thedisability community and I even
came across a recent postregarding presenting at the
(27:33):
World Health Organization andsome of the other exciting
events that you've been part of.
Can you, you know, fast forwarda little bit to how, maybe,
that those books have impactedyour career and how you kind of
went from advocating foryourself to advocating for
others?
Speaker 5 (27:53):
Yeah, no, I mean.
So it was basically when Idecided I was going to write the
second book about my strokerecovery.
I started connecting withothers through social media to
kind of like blean the lessonsthat, like other people have
learned, were maybe goingthrough a similar thing with
stroke recovery and me sharingmy journey on social media, in
my books, on my blogs, inpodcasts, like whatever.
(28:16):
I've been able to connect withso many different people in the
disability community, hear theirstories and there's so many
things that, like, we have incommon from that and I learned
that community and support isreally everything.
And because I was sharing myjourney, like I've had so many
cool opportunities or likepeople and organizations reach
(28:40):
out to me.
Like you mentioned the WorldHealth Organization, I was
invited to speak at their GlobalRehab Conference last month in
Geneva, switzerland, which wasreally cool and a great, insane
opportunity to meet likedifferent organizations and
countries around the world allcommitted to furthering, like,
the global rehab agenda.
(29:01):
So, like things like that arecool.
Also great opportunities tocontinue advocacy, because that
is just so important and I'mvery passionate about community
building and so I do a lot oflike community work, like
outside of my social media,building my own community
platform, and I'm looking now tolaunch a series of like live
(29:21):
community events to connect thedisability community in person.
So, like I, there's always likea million things going on, and
that's one of the big ones,right now and you have a job
like tell us what you do and oohwhere you work and if you get a
discount and what that discountis.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, you can tell me laterabout the discount.
Tell us everybody where youwork.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
Yes, so I work for Hermes.
So I do actually work infashion, now in luxury.
I made the switch after aboutlike two years of working in
reinsurance, which, as Imentioned before, I loved
working in reinsurance.
But in the back of my mind Ikind of kept thinking like, oh,
what if, like I missed theopportunity to, you know, take
the leap and like see if maybe Icould work in this industry,
(30:08):
especially after I wrote thebook.
So I made the switch about.
I've been working there twoyears ago now and I've been
having a great time, I love itthere.
I actually started an employeeresource group at work for
disability inclusion, so likethat's also kind of like a
passion of mine, too is workingon, working on all those like
checklists and projects that wehave going on.
But I love, I love where I work.
(30:31):
It's been great.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
So Maddie, and you know, maddie, we do a lot of
workshops for companies likeHermes and I know all in clip
and adaptive fashion and all ofit.
So little plug for us, smallplug Because Hermes people who
are listening may not care aboutHermes, but it's like a big
deal.
So very cool.
(30:52):
It's a really cool company,awesome job and all of the
amazing work.
You're like doing a travelthing with.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Yes, tell us about that.
So I mentioned that like one ofmy biggest goals was to be able
to travel again independently,and that was very, very
important to me.
I love to travel and I actuallymet through Instagram another
young woman in the disabilitycommunity.
(31:19):
She is an ambulance wheelchairuser and she lives in the
Netherlands.
Her name is Chloe and actuallypretty much a year ago to the
day, we finally met in person inMadrid when I was traveling in
the Netherlands, and we reallyhit it off and we decided to
just take a road trip together.
So we took a road trip up tothe north of Spain and, like,
hit a bunch of places and juststarted documenting our
(31:40):
experience of traveling withdisabilities Her with a
wheelchair, me with my visionand my let my brace and you know
arm and everything.
So we just decided to make athing out of it.
So now we're disability traveldiaries and we're just going to
be able to travel together andwe actually earlier this summer,
(32:03):
like at the very beginning ofthe summer, we took a long.
We took a train trip fromLondon to Paris, to a small
village in France, to Luxembourg, to Belgium, and we like
documented that, which is reallycool.
So we love like collaborativeexperiences where we're able to
travel and just document whatit's like to travel with a
(32:24):
disability, to show thedisability community Like yes,
it is possible.
And like here's how we addressaccessibility concerns when
we're on the road, when we'retraveling, because we think it's
really important to showcasethat for different levels of
disability, to assess propertiesor locations.
For she's an ambulancewheelchair user, I'm like a
(32:46):
mobile I don't even know whatyou call it Like I have a brace,
so we can assess it on thatlevel.
Like because the space might beaccessible for someone who
wears a brace or is ambulancewheelchair, but maybe not for an
electric wheelchair user.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Right.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Different levels of accessibility which we look for
when we're traveling.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
And what are some of those tips?
I see you share a few tips onyour social for traveling.
What would a few of those be?
Or what do you feel peopleresonate with the most when
you're sharing some of thesetravel tips?
Speaker 5 (33:17):
So I think one of the things that I've learned and I
learned this from doing theopposite is Like start planning
really early, like it's, andthat's probably because, like
the past few trips I've gone onhave been like rather last
minute, but then that justcreates so much unnecessary
stress, and I'm like I couldhave easily avoided this had I
(33:37):
just like thought ahead and beenlike okay, I want to go to this
place in like six months orhowever long, instead of like
Scrambling to plan everythinglike a month before and then you
don't know if, like whichlocation is gonna be accessible,
or you know all of that.
So I think Forward thinking andplanning is definitely critical
(33:59):
, and I'm trying to actuallyexecute on that myself more, but
I would say that that'sprobably the biggest thing.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Maddie, you do so many things.
I mean it would be impossible,like I don't know, if you guys
click on people's bios and onInstagram but Maddie has, I
don't know, there might be like50 links.
There's like Business.
You have Maddie's closet whereyou're like doing kind of like a
(34:30):
what is that called that?
That Whatever?
There was a company that lotsof companies that send you, you
know, clothing.
You pay a flat and then whatyou keep, what you like and no,
I forgot what name of it is.
But there's Maddie closet thatdoes that.
You can find out about that onyour Instagram and your website.
You are doing the this podcast.
(34:51):
What's your podcast called?
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Maddie.
Oh, I have a podcast withanother stroke survivor and it's
surviving and thriving and wego live like pretty much once a
week and we'll like interviewother people in the disability
community or just like casuallychat ourselves.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
And we're gonna put all those links, but how can
people find you?
Speaker 5 (35:12):
Probably the best ways.
I'm very active, like throughmy Instagram page, so I would
say, connect with me there,maddie.
Stroke of luck, join mycommunity page because, like I
mentioned, I'm planning a liveseries of meetups and Would
obviously love to have everyoneinvolved.
I host monthly community callswith people all over the world,
(35:33):
like virtual calls.
We just had our first one ofSeptember, yesterday.
Actually, people could sign upfor my community page.
We can interact and chat there.
Instagram send me an email.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Well, we will include everything in the show notes,
and when we remember, we like toask our guests what embrace it
means to them, so I'm gonnathrow that out out to you as a
closing statement.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Taking whatever.
I mean, we were just talkingabout obstacles, so I'll say
taking whatever obstacle or, youknow, challenge or just event
that happens, whatever is goingon in your life, taking it and
Turning it into something thatis good and positive for
yourself, maybe even for otherpeople.
So it kind of goes along to mewith my saying of obstacles or
(36:24):
opportunities, embrace it, turnit into something good.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Well, lemons to lemonade and you.
That is for sure.
Okay, we have every clichecovered, but Authentic like I, I
believe that your mindset youknow that you have managed to
Change your mindset and look atall that you're doing.
So clearly you had to right.
So those of you guys who arelistening, follow Maddie for
(36:50):
some inspiration tips if you'rehaving that bad day.
Maddie has them too.
But maybe you know, you canlearn from from her and From the
rest of the distance disabilitycommunity about how they pick
themselves back up, because it'sreally not linear, right?
whatever way you became disabledor got acquired a disability,
(37:12):
it's not linear progress.
Sometimes you have bad days,but you get back up.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us.
You're a wise young woman andsuper cool and, like I said, I'd
like to know your discount.
But We'll connect offline aboutthat a little more, but thank
you everyone for listening.
(37:32):
Thanks, everyone.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Thank you, thank you, stella, thanks Maddie.
Hey, embracers, thank you somuch for listening and
supporting the Embrace itpodcast brought to you by
Launchpad 516 studios Executive,produced by George Andriopoulos
and hosted by Laini Ishpia andStella Wego.
Our music and sound effects arelicensed through Epidemic Sound
, and Bracet is hosted withBuzzsprout.
(37:54):
Do you have a disability?
Speaker 3 (37:56):
related topic you'd love for us to feature, or Could
someone you know be a fabulousguest on our show?
We would love to hear yourcomments and feature them on our
next podcast.
So leave us a voicemail, or youcan even send us a text to 631
517 0066.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Make sure to subscribe to this feed wherever
podcasts are available and leaveus a five-star review on Apple
podcasts while you're at it.
Follow us at embrace itunderscore podcast on Instagram
and make sure to follow all thegreat podcasts produced by
Launchpad 516 studios we hopeyou join us next time and
continue to embrace it.
Welcome to the Embrace it series, where women
with all types of disabilitiescan be real, resourceful and
stylish.
With each episode, you'll walkor roll away with everyday tips,
life hacks and success storiesfrom community leaders and
influencers.
So take off your leg braces andstay a while with Lainey and
Estella.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hi, I'm Lainey and I have CMT.
I'm a neuro-muscular disorderaffecting approximately 2.6
million people worldwide.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
That's as many as MS.
We believe disabilities shouldnever get in the way of looking
or feeling good.
Both of us wear leg braces andhave learned through our own
personal journeys to embrace it.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Brought to you by Launchpad 516 Studios.
Each episode is designed tochallenge your own stigmas and
beliefs around disability.
We want our listeners to getthe most value for their time
spent with us, so we interviewsome of the most empowering
disability badasses in the world.
Through storytelling, personalexperiences and tips, we're all
reminded of our own strengthsand endless potential.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
For more information and exclusive resources, check
out our websites attrend-ablecom and hnf-curorg,
and don't forget to hit thesubscribe button for future
episodes and special promos.
Hi everyone, welcome to anotherepisode of Embrace it.
(01:35):
Hi, estella.
Hey Lainey, happy Labor Day ohyes, I don't know when it's
going to air, but you know mybirthday was yesterday.
Happy birthday, thank you.
You know Estella wrote me abeautiful well, I should say an
AI robot wrote me the mostfabulous poem and it was so nice
(01:55):
.
I had a great birthday,although having a birthday on
Labor Day as a child was verytraumatizing, because it was
always the first day of school,like that time, and so my
friends didn't have enough timeto decorate my locker.
But everyone made up for it.
As adults I'm getting.
It was very nice.
It was an awesome birthday.
You poor thing, yeah, how didyou get that?
(02:17):
People always say their likeChristmas birthdays are big and
shit summer birthdays.
I say first day of school, noone pays attention to you.
But we're going to save that foranother day.
You guys, we have anotherfabulous guest.
I know we say it every singletime, but we really look far and
(02:37):
wide for fabulous guests, sothey really are Many of them
super fabulous.
So today is definitely noexception.
I want to introduce MaddieNebank to our podcast and I'm
going to just give you a littlething about her.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
But hi, maddie first of all, hi, thank you so much
for having me on the podcast.
Hi we are so happy to have you.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
So a little bio.
Maddie Nebank graduated fromGeorgetown University in
Washington DC in 2017.
A few days after later, rightafter graduating- she went to
the hospital for a plannedsurgery to treat and this is
where my like our say it for me,an AVM which is a Arto Arteo
(03:26):
Arteovenous Maleformation Yep,okay, we'll talk about that in a
few minutes and basically anuntreated AVM for sure can
result in a serious stroke, apre-surgery procedure.
Though that AVM gave way andMaddie did, in fact, suffer to
stroke, and while going throughrecovery, maddie wrote books.
(03:46):
One of them was called FashionForward how Today's Culture
Shapes Tomorrow's Fashion.
But Maddie took that endeavorlevel as she embraced her
disability and she wrote hermost recent book, which is Fast
Forward, the Fully RecoveredMindset.
There's so many things we cansay about you.
You are doing everything from afashion person with their own
(04:08):
fashion business to working at amajor fashion brand, to having
I don't know.
You have a lot of followers onInstagram and a whole community
of people you help through yourown podcast.
Welcome to the show, maddie.
Welcome.
Welcome to the show, maddie.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
Yeah, thank you again for having me and thank you for
the introduction.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We usually like to provide a little bit of a
background on you know, when wefeel whether you were born with
a disability or if it'ssomething you acquired later in
life, there's always lessons tobe learned through that journey.
Could you give us a little bitof an overview of what that
journey from being a you know, acollege graduate to entering
(04:49):
the disability community, andmaybe what were some of those
dark moments and how did youfind your way through those?
Speaker 5 (04:56):
Sure, yes, like you mentioned, estella, I was not
born into the disabilitycommunity.
It happened later in life, Iguess you could say the journey
technically started when I wasin second grade.
I started getting extremelysevere, debilitating migraines
that would last for a super longtime.
I tried every single migrainemedication under the sun.
(05:18):
None of them worked.
The only thing I could do isjust like lay down in a dark
room and like vomit repetitively, or like just hope that the
pain would eventually go away.
When I was 15, I suffered amigraine that lasted 24 days and
my neurologist was like this isnot normal, we need to get this
(05:39):
checked out.
So he ordered me an MRI andthat MRI is what revealed that I
had the arteriovenousmalformation, or the AVM, which
Lainey mentioned at thebeginning.
Once I found out that I had anAVM, which is something that
you're born with it's a tangleof blood vessels in your brain
that don't have capillaries.
(06:00):
So my understanding is that,like an abnormal tangle of blood
vessels where the blood flow isjust extremely unregulated and
not good, that with each year oflife was an increased chance of
this AVM bleeding, and if itdid bleed, there's a 10% chance
of death.
So I didn't like the idea ofhaving a ticking time bomb in my
(06:23):
brain, so that is what promptedme ultimately down the line to
get a scheduled brain surgeryafter I graduated college.
When I went in, though, I hadto have a preoperative procedure
, since my AVM was so big thatpreoperative caused a blood clot
in my brain which burst,causing me to have a massive
(06:44):
stroke in the hospital.
Thankfully, I was in thehospital, although my
neurosurgeon had just left forthe night.
He's called back in before hegoes into, excuse me to do my
emergency surgery.
He tells my parents that thesituation looks grim and he
doesn't know if I'm going tomake it up, but he'll try.
But like he doesn't know, likeit just did not look good, I was
(07:06):
losing.
I lost seven liters of blood,which is more blood than the
human body can even contain, soI had the brain surgery.
Obviously, I did live through it, so I did come out alive that
he was able to stop the bleedingand remove the AVM, but when I
did wake up, I was completelyparalyzed on the left side.
(07:30):
So everything from like my armand hand, and it's on my left
side and I'm left-handed, sothat was like so an adjustment
left arm, left hand, left leg,the whole left side of my body,
so, like left side of my face Icouldn't speak or swallow, like
I couldn't even sit up in awheelchair on my own, so I had
(07:51):
to learn how to do everythingfrom scratch, and it was like a
very, very long journey To getto where I am today.
But I've always kind of been thetype of person who, like I,
very quickly learned that Iwasn't just going to wake up and
get better.
You know, like I wasn't justgonna wake up one day and all of
(08:14):
a sudden, like my arm would beback my leg.
I Very quickly came tounderstand that, like, if I
wanted to see progress, the onlyway that was going to happen is
if I myself put in the work andI, like did the exercises in
rehab and if I, you know, kepttrying and no one would know for
sure, like how much better Iwas going to get.
(08:34):
But the only way to find outwas for me to do the exercise.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I'm assuming, maddie, that you like I mean here, you
are right Graduated from collegeand I can totally see, having
had a kid just graduate fromcollege last year myself, that
you were fitting in a surgerybefore you began your beginning
of your life, your first job.
You're like starting your lifelike my child moved away the
state and it's so exciting andyou were just fitting in the
(09:02):
surgery that you knew exactly.
You had no idea that, like yourwhole life would change forever
To that moment.
So I can't imagine that, evenwith your amazingly positive
attitude now, that you were sopositive Immediately, right,
like take us through rehab waslike a little bit, and how you
(09:23):
came to that Realization ofmindset over everything yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
So I definitely did go through like an initial stage
of Anger and like depression, Iguess you could say, because
initially, the first thoughtsthat would cross my mind after
waking up from having thistraumatic incident was why me,
like, what did I do to deservesomething like this to happen to
me?
Like I was, like you said, justgraduated from college.
(09:49):
I had a job lined up, I wasjust trying to squeeze in this
surgery and then I was going tomove up to Boston and like start
off my career and you know, doall the things that in my mind,
like a post grad Person, wouldbe doing.
Needless to say, like that paththat I had envisioned for
myself did not end up happening.
But I was very upset and Idefinitely felt like a sense of
(10:11):
FOMO, I guess you could say oflike, basically for the first,
like two years after having thisstroke, it was just me like
full-time rehab, like day in,day out, like I wasn't working.
I was doing cognitive, speech,physical, occupational therapy,
um, everything, and like itsucked.
Like I really Did not like it,especially the cognitive and the
(10:36):
speech therapy.
Like to me it just felt kind ofdumb.
I'm like why do I have to doexercises, to learn how to like
plan my day or like hold aconversation for longer than
five minutes, like all of thesethings just seemed like kind of
stupid to me.
But I mean, in retrospect,obviously it was not because I
couldn't do any of those things,so I had to relearn and rebuild
(10:58):
.
So I was like very Frustrated,I guess you could say, for a
long time, but when I was in theinpatient therapy I did More.
So come to realize, like,especially since I was working
or, you know, just interactingwith other patients who maybe
they didn't have a stroke, butyou know something happened that
caused them to be in ainpatient rehab facility too Um,
(11:21):
I realized that like I'm Verylucky.
I'm so lucky that one that Ilived through such a Like a
literal near-death experience,like the doctor didn't think I
was going to come out of italive and let alone like ever be
able to work again or walk or,you know, do like all the things
(11:43):
that I just previously takenfor granted.
You know I'm I'm like kind ofstubborn, I guess you could say,
and I'm very like when I getsomething into my mind, like I'm
just gonna focus really hard onthat and find a way to do it,
even if it doesn't look Like howit would have previously.
And I really really wanted myfirst goal like to be able to
walk without a cane.
(12:04):
Once I started walking with acane I was like I I hate this
thing, like I'm going to dowhatever I can to get rid of
this cane because I hate it somuch.
Um, so that became like thefirst goal and like I just Went
after that like fully, and thenafter that it was like okay, now
I need to be able to walkWithout the cane and then I need
to be able to like improve thequality of my gait.
(12:26):
And then it's like now I wantto be able to use my arm a
little bit more and I want to Doyou know, like do more
cognitively stimulatingactivities so that I can be able
to work Full-time.
Because that was another hugegoal of mine.
The biggest goals I had, likepretty much from the get-go, was
obviously Ambulatingindependently, so like being
(12:49):
able to walk on my own, live onmy own and do all of those
things.
I wanted to be able to travelagain.
Being able to travel was hugefor me because I love, I love to
travel and see new places.
So I really wanted to be ableto do that live on my own.
I wanted to be able to workagain, um, and yeah, just do the
different things of my lifethat I had been able to do
(13:09):
before.
What was that?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
moment when, maybe, you did re-enter the workforce.
What was that first job thatyou were able to get to that
goal?
Were there any fears aroundwhether or not you were going to
be able to you know perform atyour best?
Did you speak to your uhemployer about your disability,
(13:34):
or is it something that you youfelt like you had to hide at
that time?
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Yeah, so definitely, and like re-entering the
workforce or entering, I guess,because I'd never had a
full-time job before Enteringthe workforce for the first time
was a huge goal of mine and itwas quite challenging.
I did not move forward with thejob that I had been hired for,
like back when I was a collegestudent, um, just because it
involved to move up to Bostonand I wasn't ready for like
(13:58):
independent living at that time.
So I ended up getting a job asa reinsurance underwriter
through, um a family friend whowas hiring, um, he has like or
works at a like a Spanishinsurance company and I speak
Spanish and I thought like oh,like this would be great
Opportunity for me to like I canstay local, I can still live
(14:19):
with my parents and like go towork.
And you know, we'll just likesee what happens and I'm I'm big
into like trying things beforeI think I'm ready and like I
didn't know if I was ready Tostart working a full-time job.
But I thought, you know what,I'm just gonna do it because
I'll never like there's nevergoing to be the perfect time, at
(14:40):
least for me, like that Ithought I'm never, there's never
going to be like a perfectmoment where I'm like oh, yes,
okay, like I'm ready, or like Ifind the perfect job, like I
just wanted to try out afull-time work setting and like
see if I could do it, if I couldhandle it.
And it was tough at thebeginning and I did tell,
because it was a family friend,like obviously he knew about
(15:02):
like my disability and whathappened and everything, and was
very accommodating, like in thebeginning I couldn't work super
late, like I was.
You know, it would be like 4 pmand I'm like okay, like I'm
done for the day, like I need toGo home now, but over time I
was able to build up like thatlevel of endurance, I guess you
(15:23):
could say, and work longer hours.
And you know that firstexperience of my first job, it
was huge for me.
I I can't drive because of thestroke, because I lost a lot of
vision, so I I can't drive.
But I learned how to take thetrain by myself when I had that
(15:45):
first job.
So I would like walk to thetrain station, hop on the train,
go a stop and then like take ashuttle to the office.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
And that was huge for me in establishing my
independence so part of yourstory that was so motivating to
me was I.
You were talking, I think, on apodcast that I was listening to
, about you know, the fact thatthis new disability that you
acquired Changed your whole mind.
(16:14):
Like you use it as anopportunity, and people say that
often like, oh, every challengecan be an opportunity, and it
seems kind of cliche when itsaid, like what do you mean?
Like, really, you know what'sthe opportunity, but you were
like, hmm, this, what I studied,you know, in school, wasn't
what I really want to do.
And so talk about what you.
(16:35):
How do you use your newchallenges to get the
opportunity you have now?
How you know what is you'redoing.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Yeah, so I definitely yes.
So my favorite saying isobstacles are opportunities.
So really truly trying toembrace that and finding a way
to turn the obstacles that arein my life into an opportunity
and that was One of thoseobstacles, obviously was like
having the stroke and theopportunity to start working
this full-time job.
But I would say before that youmentioned about my books.
(17:06):
My first book I actually wrotebefore I even started working
and that was because I wasfeeling how do I say this?
I was feeling a bit left outBecause every working everyone's
moved to the city, started newjobs and like living Glamorous
life, like in my mind, and I'mjust like doing rehab every day,
(17:29):
and it sucked and it was notfun.
So I had a conversation with oneof my very favorite Georgetown
professors from when I was astudent and I was telling him
about what happened and how likeI wanted to do something
productive with my life, but Ireally didn't like Therapy day
in and day out, even thoughobviously that was important.
(17:49):
Like I wanted to do somethinglike more Important to me as
well, and he encouraged me totake the time that I'm not
working a full-time job toexplore something that I'm
really interested in and likesee no, start having
conversations with people abouta topic that I'm interested in
and just building my network andan industry that I'm passionate
about and see where that leaves.
(18:09):
I had settled upon fashionbecause I'd always really like
fashion and wanted to be in it,but I had no work experience in
the industry and I thought whowould ever hire me without like
having industry experience?
So I started just like casuallynetworking and like talking to
people through friends, so likeeveryone from like small
(18:32):
business owners to models toeditors, all like whoever in the
industry and just like talkingto them and hearing their
stories.
And I ended up writing all ofmy like key takeaways from those
conversations into my firstbook, fashion forward, which you
mentioned.
But the biggest part aboutwriting that book for me was it
(18:53):
was great because it got my footin the door like into an
industry that I wanted to be in,and I mean so I loved my job
and as a re-insuranceunderwriter I really, really did
.
But I kept coming back to likeoh, what, if, like, what, if I?
You know, I've always kind ofthought like maybe I wanted to
be in fashion and like maybe Ineeded to take the lead.
(19:15):
But the most interesting partabout me writing that first book
was I wrote a bit about like myrecovery in it as well, so like
it had the stories about peoplein the fashion industry.
But I also wove in littleanecdotes about like my stroke
recovery and how me goingthrough the process of
interviewing and writing thisbook and planning it out Like
(19:38):
all of that contributed to mycognitive recovery and people
really resonated with that.
People liked that aspect of itand were like interested to
learn more.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I'm super interested in this because I'm thinking,
okay, people who are listening,they're like I don't know what I
want to do, right, like I wantto do something, but like I
don't know for a second.
Here you took you know, your.
I mean, there's two parts to it.
One, you know, your interestwas in fashion, did you?
When you started to interviewthese people, did you do it like
, like what did you say to themI'm writing a book?
(20:09):
Because you didn't know youwanted to write a book at that
time, right?
Or did you know?
Speaker 5 (20:14):
I mean I had an idea that it would be going into a
book.
So I just, I mean I reached outlike to friends and family
members and asked like, oh, doyou know anyone?
Or I sent out cold emails, likeI was really just trying to get
in touch with whoever I could.
And then just I came up with acouple of a couple of questions
to ask and, you know, basicallyjust get their experience and
(20:39):
write a bit about, like, um,their experience in the industry
.
And then, after I'd talked to abunch of people, I looked at
all these conversations to thinklike, okay, what are the key
takeaways?
Like what are the common themesthat I'm seeing amongst all
these conversations?
And that was how I kind offigured out how to segment my
book.
Like I didn't go into it sayinglike, okay, these are going to
(21:00):
be like the five pillars that Idiscuss.
Like I just started talking topeople and I figured the rest
out after.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
This is George, fred and Jason, the co-leaders of
speak, interrupting to say thatwe hope you're enjoying this
episode, so please make sure tocheck out our new show, the
speak podcast, another greatshow produced by launchpad 516
studios.
New episodes available everyweek on all of your favorite
podcast platforms.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Each speak talk is about six to 10 minutes in
length, and the talks are givenin storytelling format.
There are three key moments ineach speak talk the moment of
truth, the moment oftransformation and the moment of
impact.
We host pop up events all overthe world, and now we're
bringing our talks to yourdevice.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Join us on the speak podcast as our speakers step
onto the stage and into thespotlight with impactful ideas
and stories.
We'll let you get back to theshow.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
You were listening to another great podcast from
launchpad 516 studios and what.
We obviously want people toread the books and we're going
to put the links in our shownotes, but maybe you could share
(22:33):
one or two of what those keypillars were from the book.
What did you learn aboutyourself as far as how you
wanted to be part of the fashionindustry?
Speaker 5 (22:43):
So, to be honest, when you ask that question, what
I think of is more like mysecond book, because that one I
feel like has bigger takeaways.
Like my first book is more liketakeaways around, like how the
fashion industry is changing andlike that's interesting To me.
The more, the more interestingand relevant one is probably my
second books.
Is it okay if I talk about that?
Yes, it's a perfect segue, sothat one.
(23:05):
My second book is about, like mystroke recovery and the lessons
that I learned for the first,like few years, specifically
around mindset, and I think thatI mean it's called fast forward
, the fully recovered mindset,because to me, what I learned
through my own recovery is thatour recovery from stroke, from
(23:26):
whatever, begins with ourmindset.
If I didn't have a right mindset, a positive, an optimistic
mindset, then I wasn't, I wasn'tgoing to recover really at all.
Like it began with how I talkto myself, the stories I tell
myself about, like how I want tobe and what I want to do and
(23:47):
the impact I want to have.
So for me, mindset iseverything and me being able to
turn my mindset around, to thinkpositively and view my
obstacles as opportunities wasreally the game changer for me
and it inspired me to createlike a community through social
(24:08):
media to share my story, notjust to share it but to help, to
help myself and to help otherpeople and empower others to do
the same and show like what ispossible, like, yes, we may have
traumatic, terrible thingshappen to us, like a stroke, but
we I mean we can't change thatthat happened, but what we can
(24:30):
change is our mindset and how wethink about what we're going to
do and how we're going to useour energies moving forward.
So to me that's been like,that's been very important.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
So you know we've talked on this podcast and
actually I wrote a whole blogabout thought distortions and
how important it is to you knowthat you can change your
thinking.
Right, it's all about your ownthinking that, that that
basically drives you.
So you have the ability tochange your thoughts, which then
can change how you feel, etcetera.
(25:01):
So obviously it's one thing tojust say you know what your
mindset is, everything You'vehad bad days.
I'm sure you've talked on yoursocials about your vision,
especially you know, the, theweakness, the, the hand weakness
, and but the peripheral visionloss is huge, right, it affects
(25:23):
your balance, it affectseverything you, you already wear
AFO after this.
You know, I'm sure you havedays, like everybody does, that
just suck, right, right.
Take us through a day that justsucks.
You wake up, everything's goingwrong, like it happens in life.
How does mindset take it Like?
How do you shift your mindset?
(25:44):
Are there any takeaways you cangive to our listeners?
Speaker 5 (25:47):
I'm going to do that, yeah, so one of one of my
biggest things that I'll do,because I do have a lot of
moments like that, to be honest,and I find that the more I slow
down and just like take abreather, it sounds like kind of
dumb, but like take a momentfor myself, maybe it's like a
few minute meditation, like Ilove to meditate, I feel like
(26:07):
that has helped me a lot in myrecovery and specifically around
like improving my mindset,because I kind of think like
like fake it till you make it ina sense, like I didn't believe
that I was, you know, a positiveperson, like I was very
distraught and yeah, distraught,I guess, is the word like when
(26:28):
this happened, but I startedjust like telling myself like no
, no, you can do this, likeyou're strong, all these things,
even though I didn't believe it.
And you know, over time, like Istarted to believe it and I'm
like I am, I am strong, I canhandle.
Like, if I can handle that, Ican handle having a stroke, I
can handle any challenge.
(26:49):
It's all just like.
It puts things into perspectivefor me.
But, to answer your question,like meditation I find helps
just slowing down.
I'm big on taking walks.
So I go for walks as often as Ican, and I find that those
always help to like lift my mood.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I love that and I love seeing you know just your
projection from being someonewho had to we learn all of these
life skills to being such apowerful spokesperson on behalf
of stroke survivors and thedisability community and I even
came across a recent postregarding presenting at the
(27:33):
World Health Organization andsome of the other exciting
events that you've been part of.
Can you, you know, fast forwarda little bit to how, maybe,
that those books have impactedyour career and how you kind of
went from advocating foryourself to advocating for
others?
Speaker 5 (27:53):
Yeah, no, I mean.
So it was basically when Idecided I was going to write the
second book about my strokerecovery.
I started connecting withothers through social media to
kind of like blean the lessonsthat, like other people have
learned, were maybe goingthrough a similar thing with
stroke recovery and me sharingmy journey on social media, in
my books, on my blogs, inpodcasts, like whatever.
(28:16):
I've been able to connect withso many different people in the
disability community, hear theirstories and there's so many
things that, like, we have incommon from that and I learned
that community and support isreally everything.
And because I was sharing myjourney, like I've had so many
cool opportunities or likepeople and organizations reach
(28:40):
out to me.
Like you mentioned the WorldHealth Organization, I was
invited to speak at their GlobalRehab Conference last month in
Geneva, switzerland, which wasreally cool and a great, insane
opportunity to meet likedifferent organizations and
countries around the world allcommitted to furthering, like,
the global rehab agenda.
(29:01):
So, like things like that arecool.
Also great opportunities tocontinue advocacy, because that
is just so important and I'mvery passionate about community
building and so I do a lot oflike community work, like
outside of my social media,building my own community
platform, and I'm looking now tolaunch a series of like live
(29:21):
community events to connect thedisability community in person.
So, like I, there's always likea million things going on, and
that's one of the big ones,right now and you have a job
like tell us what you do and oohwhere you work and if you get a
discount and what that discountis.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Oh my gosh.
Okay, you can tell me laterabout the discount.
Tell us everybody where youwork.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
Yes, so I work for Hermes.
So I do actually work infashion, now in luxury.
I made the switch after aboutlike two years of working in
reinsurance, which, as Imentioned before, I loved
working in reinsurance.
But in the back of my mind Ikind of kept thinking like, oh,
what if, like I missed theopportunity to, you know, take
the leap and like see if maybe Icould work in this industry,
(30:08):
especially after I wrote thebook.
So I made the switch about.
I've been working there twoyears ago now and I've been
having a great time, I love itthere.
I actually started an employeeresource group at work for
disability inclusion, so likethat's also kind of like a
passion of mine, too is workingon, working on all those like
checklists and projects that wehave going on.
But I love, I love where I work.
(30:31):
It's been great.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
So Maddie, and you know, maddie, we do a lot of
workshops for companies likeHermes and I know all in clip
and adaptive fashion and all ofit.
So little plug for us, smallplug Because Hermes people who
are listening may not care aboutHermes, but it's like a big
deal.
So very cool.
(30:52):
It's a really cool company,awesome job and all of the
amazing work.
You're like doing a travelthing with.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Yes, tell us about that.
So I mentioned that like one ofmy biggest goals was to be able
to travel again independently,and that was very, very
important to me.
I love to travel and I actuallymet through Instagram another
young woman in the disabilitycommunity.
(31:19):
She is an ambulance wheelchairuser and she lives in the
Netherlands.
Her name is Chloe and actuallypretty much a year ago to the
day, we finally met in person inMadrid when I was traveling in
the Netherlands, and we reallyhit it off and we decided to
just take a road trip together.
So we took a road trip up tothe north of Spain and, like,
hit a bunch of places and juststarted documenting our
(31:40):
experience of traveling withdisabilities Her with a
wheelchair, me with my visionand my let my brace and you know
arm and everything.
So we just decided to make athing out of it.
So now we're disability traveldiaries and we're just going to
be able to travel together andwe actually earlier this summer,
(32:03):
like at the very beginning ofthe summer, we took a long.
We took a train trip fromLondon to Paris, to a small
village in France, to Luxembourg, to Belgium, and we like
documented that, which is reallycool.
So we love like collaborativeexperiences where we're able to
travel and just document whatit's like to travel with a
(32:24):
disability, to show thedisability community Like yes,
it is possible.
And like here's how we addressaccessibility concerns when
we're on the road, when we'retraveling, because we think it's
really important to showcasethat for different levels of
disability, to assess propertiesor locations.
For she's an ambulancewheelchair user, I'm like a
(32:46):
mobile I don't even know whatyou call it Like I have a brace,
so we can assess it on thatlevel.
Like because the space might beaccessible for someone who
wears a brace or is ambulancewheelchair, but maybe not for an
electric wheelchair user.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Right.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Different levels of accessibility which we look for
when we're traveling.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
And what are some of those tips?
I see you share a few tips onyour social for traveling.
What would a few of those be?
Or what do you feel peopleresonate with the most when
you're sharing some of thesetravel tips?
Speaker 5 (33:17):
So I think one of the things that I've learned and I
learned this from doing theopposite is Like start planning
really early, like it's, andthat's probably because, like
the past few trips I've gone onhave been like rather last
minute, but then that justcreates so much unnecessary
stress, and I'm like I couldhave easily avoided this had I
(33:37):
just like thought ahead and beenlike okay, I want to go to this
place in like six months orhowever long, instead of like
Scrambling to plan everythinglike a month before and then you
don't know if, like whichlocation is gonna be accessible,
or you know all of that.
So I think Forward thinking andplanning is definitely critical
(33:59):
, and I'm trying to actuallyexecute on that myself more, but
I would say that that'sprobably the biggest thing.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Maddie, you do so many things.
I mean it would be impossible,like I don't know, if you guys
click on people's bios and onInstagram but Maddie has, I
don't know, there might be like50 links.
There's like Business.
You have Maddie's closet whereyou're like doing kind of like a
(34:30):
what is that called that?
That Whatever?
There was a company that lotsof companies that send you, you
know, clothing.
You pay a flat and then whatyou keep, what you like and no,
I forgot what name of it is.
But there's Maddie closet thatdoes that.
You can find out about that onyour Instagram and your website.
You are doing the this podcast.
(34:51):
What's your podcast called?
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Maddie.
Oh, I have a podcast withanother stroke survivor and it's
surviving and thriving and wego live like pretty much once a
week and we'll like interviewother people in the disability
community or just like casuallychat ourselves.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
And we're gonna put all those links, but how can
people find you?
Speaker 5 (35:12):
Probably the best ways.
I'm very active, like throughmy Instagram page, so I would
say, connect with me there,maddie.
Stroke of luck, join mycommunity page because, like I
mentioned, I'm planning a liveseries of meetups and Would
obviously love to have everyoneinvolved.
I host monthly community callswith people all over the world,
(35:33):
like virtual calls.
We just had our first one ofSeptember, yesterday.
Actually, people could sign upfor my community page.
We can interact and chat there.
Instagram send me an email.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Well, we will include everything in the show notes,
and when we remember, we like toask our guests what embrace it
means to them, so I'm gonnathrow that out out to you as a
closing statement.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
Taking whatever.
I mean, we were just talkingabout obstacles, so I'll say
taking whatever obstacle or, youknow, challenge or just event
that happens, whatever is goingon in your life, taking it and
Turning it into something thatis good and positive for
yourself, maybe even for otherpeople.
So it kind of goes along to mewith my saying of obstacles or
(36:24):
opportunities, embrace it, turnit into something good.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Well, lemons to lemonade and you.
That is for sure.
Okay, we have every clichecovered, but Authentic like I, I
believe that your mindset youknow that you have managed to
Change your mindset and look atall that you're doing.
So clearly you had to right.
So those of you guys who arelistening, follow Maddie for
(36:50):
some inspiration tips if you'rehaving that bad day.
Maddie has them too.
But maybe you know, you canlearn from from her and From the
rest of the distance disabilitycommunity about how they pick
themselves back up, because it'sreally not linear, right?
whatever way you became disabledor got acquired a disability,
(37:12):
it's not linear progress.
Sometimes you have bad days,but you get back up.
So thank you so much for beinghere with us.
You're a wise young woman andsuper cool and, like I said, I'd
like to know your discount.
But We'll connect offline aboutthat a little more, but thank
you everyone for listening.
(37:32):
Thanks, everyone.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Thank you, thank you, stella, thanks Maddie.
Hey, embracers, thank you somuch for listening and
supporting the Embrace itpodcast brought to you by
Launchpad 516 studios Executive,produced by George Andriopoulos
and hosted by Laini Ishpia andStella Wego.
Our music and sound effects arelicensed through Epidemic Sound
, and Bracet is hosted withBuzzsprout.
(37:54):
Do you have a disability?
Speaker 3 (37:56):
related topic you'd love for us to feature, or Could
someone you know be a fabulousguest on our show?
We would love to hear yourcomments and feature them on our
next podcast.
So leave us a voicemail, or youcan even send us a text to 631
517 0066.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Make sure to subscribe to this feed wherever
podcasts are available and leaveus a five-star review on Apple
podcasts while you're at it.
Follow us at embrace itunderscore podcast on Instagram
and make sure to follow all thegreat podcasts produced by
Launchpad 516 studios we hopeyou join us next time and
continue to embrace it.
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